#13 Delta

Rated 65/100. A nine-point improvement from last year.

Complaints about airlines often focus on poor service and mounting fees. However, people are getting smarter about not checking bags to avoid fees. The ACSI survey found that almost 20 percent fewer people are checking bags.

Last year's bad score for Delta came after its merger with Northwestern, but the score improved somewhat after ironing out merger details and bringing more flights in on time. You can see the gain in its stock price.

#10 American Airlines

ap

Rated 64/100. The second-lowest-rated big airline.

The whole airline industry has angered people with increasing fees and rising ticket prices. According to the AP, the airline also saw a huge number of canceled flights during a lengthy and highly public dispute with its pilots.

Its score improved very slightly from last year, but the company still remains near the bottom of the heap.

#9 Cox Communications (Television Service)

Cox's customers and ratings suffered this year from higher rates and increased fees. Reliability concerns and the high cost of TV services keep the industry poorly rated despite it offering more options than ever.

Customers are irked by sales tactics which acquire new customers with low rates, then boost them much higher later.

#8 LinkedIn

Steve Kovach, Business Insider

Rated 63/100. The second-lowest-rated social network.

LinkedIn's inaugural rating puts it near the bottom, along with other social networks like Twitter. ACSI finds that "Monetizing schemes appear to be at the core of user dissatisfaction with both sites."

In LinkedIn's case that mean its "Recruiter" platform, which gives companies that subscribe access to account information.

#7 Time Warner Cable

Part of Time Warner Cable's improvement might be the simple fact that the company is losing residential TV subscribers — 129,000 of them as of August — which means a smaller pool of more loyal subscribers. They did gain broadband customers over the same period though.

For some customers, it's their only option. That can leave them stuck with fees like this monthly modem rental fee announced in October.

#5 Facebook

Rated 61/100. A five-point decline from last year, making it the lowest-rated social network.

Facebook comes in at the very bottom of the social media pile after a turbulent year. Customers were dissatisfied with the forced change to the "Timeline" style profile, and a particularly messy IPO in May couldn't have helped.

#2 Northeast Utilities

Most people only interact with their utility company in times of disaster or when they get their bill. Customers of Northeast Utilities in New England saw massive outages from Hurricane Irene in 2011 and a heavy snowstorm in October of that year.

There were outages that lasted as long as two weeks, and delays eventually forced the ouster of the CEO of one of the company's subsidiaries, Connecticut Light and Power.

#1 Long Island Power Authority

Rated 58/100. Seven-point decline from last year.

This New York utility was also hit particularly hard by Hurricane Irene, with outages lasting up to a week. A comparatively small customer base combined with a disaster and outages helps puts them at the very bottom.

The company also came under criticism for its performance during Hurricane Sandy (although that time period was not included in ACSI's latest rating). Two million were left without power in New York alone, and the company, along with Consolidated Edison, has been subpoenaed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.